The interesting thing is not that the HP-33S is being sold at Wal-Mart but that in western North Carolina and in the Tampa Bay area of Florida I wasn't able to find the machine offered anywhere else. It wasn't at Office Depot or at Staples even though TI and Casio have substantial displays at those stores. So, where does one purchase an HP-33S if one doesn't purchase it at Wal-Mart?

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direct from HP or from AMAZON. Some time back, HP announced that their focus would be on direct and online sales WRT calculators.

Hi Bill. The Walmart and Fry's near my house are both sold out of the 33s. Also, Fry's is sold out of the 49G+. A few questions come to mind - Has demand outstipped supply, Is HP getting to release a new product or is it as you say that HP is moving to an Internet based marketing approach?

By the way, there are many old (2004) 17BII+'s and 48GII's at Fry's that don't seem to move at all.

What was the serial number on those units? Have they reached CNA6XXXXXXX yet?

The Wal-Mart located in Pea Ridge, Florida (or Pace, Florida, depending on where one sides in the Pea Ridge vs. Pace debate) is having it's Electronics department renovated. I noticed that they now had a wall location and a sticker for the HP-33S, but there are no units in stock. The price was, I believe, $44.97. They now have HP-10BII calculators in stock. Before this, they had no HP calculators at all--only TIs, Casios, and some off-brands.

The Wal-Mart in Largo, Florida has four HP-33S's on the display. One has serial number CNA 53200443. Is that as good as, or better, than CNA524's? Two of the others are CNA429XXXX and the fourth is CNA442XXXX.

HP-33S calculators with serial number CNA6XXXXXXX would have been produced in 2006 (since the first digit after the country and plant code, "CNA", is the last digit of the year). That just seemed significant to me. :)

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The Wal-Mart in Largo, Florida has four HP-33S's on the display. One has serial number CNA 53200443. Is that as good as, or better, than CNA524's? Two of the others are CNA429XXXX and the fourth is CNA442XXXX.

What is the significance of CNA6XXX?

I don't believe that there shouldn't be any difference in the quality of the 532 vs 524. Both are the latest with improved display and keyboard and bug fixes.

However, the 429 and 442 have slightly improved display vs the original but still have the poor keyboard and bugs as the original.

I noticed one other thing -- the older 33S's were in those anti-theft devices which will sound an alarm if you try to take them out of the store without paying for them. My 532 was not in an anti-theft device. Strange, indeed.

I have 2 HP33S's, one with 527xxxx as the serial number. Both displays are fine. I use them for daily users and for travelling. Basically, all of the time.

I have used HP's starting with the 41CV over 23 years ago and these 2 give good answers all of the time. I had to return my first one because of a non-entry zero key, but the two I have now are great.

Not quite the same feeling as my old 41CV, but certainly good enough to get the job done. Also, I don't have to worry about someone walking off with it or it falling into something messy and destroying it. <$50 and I have a new one. Not great, but it beats losing a 48GX.